Lighting-fixture.



" A. C. McWlLLlAMS.

LIGHTING FIXTURE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-17. 1911.

1,287,375. Patented Dec. 918.

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APPLICATION FILED SEPT-17,1917.

. V Patented Dec.10, 1918.

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ARTHUR C. MCWILLIAMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LIGHTING-FIXTURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 10, 1918.

Application filed September 17, 1917. Serial No. 191,679.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR C. MoWIL- LIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lighting-Fixtures; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will en able others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to lighting fixtures of the general type in which the light from an incandescent lamp is reflected and suitably concentrated or distributed by a reflector made of sheet metal or the like.

For this general purpose, my invention aims to provide a lighting fixture comprising a reflector and a socket, and so constructed that the neck portion of the reflector may be considerably shortened over that heretofore required for the same size of reflector and lamp, thus reducing the cost of manufacture; to provide a lighting fixture of this class which will readily afford access to the terminals of the socket for wiring the latter; and to rovide simple and effective means for shiel ing the wire terminals from the weather, and for aflording an effective weatherproof seal between the several parts comprising the fixture. More particularly, my invention aims to provide a lighting fixture of the class described in which the neck of the fixture will be formed by the outer casing of the socket, in which the reflector or skirt portion of the fixture will be clamped between the body and the casing of the socket, and to provide a two-piece clampsocket construction for use on reflectors which will insure easy wiring and ample space for the wires after the latter have been connected to the terminals of the socket. Still other and to some extent more detailed objects will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of a reflector and socket unit embodying my invention and equipped with a threaded cap for attachment to a conduit or the like. Fig. 2 is an enlarged and fragmentary central transverse section through the upper portion of the embodiment of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section, similar to Fig. 2. but showing a socket adapted to be supported by the wires themselves. Fig. 4 is a smaller elevation of the socket of Fig. 3 and of a portion of a reflector secured thereto. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the body portion of the socket of Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the socket casing of either Fig. 2 or Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a fragmentary vertical section through the socket shell of Fig. 2, taken along the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

In accomplishing the purposes of my invention, I provide a socket body 1 of porcelain or the like carrying the usual screw shell tube and axial spring tongue, which screw shell and tongue are respectively connected to a pair of wire terminals 4. These terminals are desirably exposed at opposite sides of the bridge 5 which forms the upper end of the porcelain body of the socket, this bridge being left after lateral corners have been out out of the opposite upper portions of the hollow and slightly tapering body 1. The body 1 is shaped substantially like an inverted cup and is provided at its lower or open end with a projecting flange 6, which flange has a pair of perforations 7 extending parallel to the axis of the said insulating body ofthe socket.

For the reflector portion of my fixture I providea stamping or spinning 8 having a relatively short neck terminating in an inturned collar 9 of a radius slightly larger than the distance from the axis of the socket body 1 to the farthest side of one of the perforations 7. This proportioning of the sizes enables the collar 9 of the reflector to rest upon the outer edge portion of the flange 6 in the position of Figs. 2 or 3 when the socket body is supported by screws or bolts extending through the bore of the said collar and through the perforations 7. These screws or-bolts also serve to secure a suitable casing or outer socket portion to the reflector and the body of the socket, so that the metal parts of the socket are protected from the weather while the collar of the reflector is clamped between the collar 6 of the socket body and the adjacent portion of the socket casing. Thus, Fig. 3 shows a socket casing 11 made of a single piece of porcelain and clampingly secured by bolts 10 to both the collar 9 of the reflector element 8 and the collar 6 of the socket body. In thiscase, the socket casing 14 is provided at its upper end with a neck 11 adapted to slip over the wires leading to the socket terminals 4, this neck having a recess 12 adapted to house such a knot in the wires as will support the lighting unit without placing a strain on the fastening of the wires to the socket terminals 4.

Where the lighting fixture is to be supported by a conduit or piping 13, I preferably construct the outer portion or casing of the socket of two separate pieces, which pieces are likewise secured to each other by the same fastening elements which are used for clamping the collar of the reflector between the body of the socket and an adjacent portion of the socket shell. Thus, Fig. 2, shows the cup-shaped shell ofthe socket as including an annular portion 14, which effectively spaces the flange on the reflector from a metal cap 16, and which cup-shaped member in this case has an upper neck portion equipped with an elongated opening 15 for admitting the wires. The metal cap 16 surmounting this cup shaped member is threaded upon the pipe 13 and also threaded upon screws 17 extending through the flange 6 of the socket body and through the bores of both the reflector member 8 and the annular portion 14 of the shell. Thus, the supporting member in this case consists of two pieces, as against the single piece member of Fig. 3, but the fastening bolts in either case connect the oppositely directed portions of the supporting member and of the socket body.

To insure ample space within the shell of the socket for the wiring, I desirably provide the bore of the shell with recesses 19 as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, which recesses will aflord room for the bent or kinked wires when a body of the socket is pushed up into its normal position Within the shell of the socket. To insure the suitable alining of the wires with these recesses, I preferably equip the bore of the socket shell 14 with projections 20 (as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 adapted to engage side portions of the bridge 5 so as to prevent the porcelain socket parts from being rotated out of relative alinement during the installation of the socket.

rom the above, it will be evident that by using almost the entire eflective length of my socket as a portion of the neck of the fixture, I greatly reduce the depth to which the metal of the reflector needs to be drawn, thereby correspondingly reducing the cost.

y making each of the two porcelain socket parts substantially in the form of an invert ed cup and providing the inner portion at its open end with a flange a little smaller in diameter than the outer cup, I enable the shell of the socket to form a continuation of the curve of the neck of the reflector, thereby affording a handsome appearance for the unit as a whole. Moreover, by simply using a rubber gasket or the like between the reflector and the socket portion immediately above the reflector, I am able to provide an effective seal without the expense and difficulty heretofore involved in weatherproofing lighting units of this general class. So, also, by dividing the socket itself into two separable portions which can readily be held apart while the unit is being wired, I greatly reduce the amount of time and labor required for wiring the fixture. In practice, the exposed portions of my fixture may be suitably ornamented, as for example by the fluting shown at the top of Figs. 1 and 4. However, I do not wish to be limited either to this or to other details of the construction and arrangement here disclosed, it being obvious that the same might be modified in many ways without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A lighting fixture comprising a downwardly open reflector having at its neck an inwardly directed flange, a downwardly open casing engaging the upper surface of said flange, a lamp-socket body separate from the casing and carrying circuit terminals and extending upwardly through the bore of the flange and having integral therewith a collar underhanging the flange on the reflector, and fastening means independent of said circuit terminals and extending through the bores of the flange and the casing for connecting the socket body with the casing and clamping the said flange therebetween.

2. A light fixture comprising a reflector having at its neck an inwardly directed flange, a supporting member and a lampsocket body having cooperating formations for preventing relative rotation thereof and having annular portions bearing respec tively against opposite faces of said flange, and means for fastening the supporting member to the lamp-socket body and clamping the said flange therebetween.

3. In a lighting fixture, a reflector having at its neck an inwardly directed flange, a supporting member comprising a casing hearing at one end against one face of said flange and a metal cap engaging the other end of the casing, a lamp-socket body having a portion bearing against the opposite face of said flange, and means connecting the metal cap with the lamp-socket body and clamping both the casing and the said flange therebetween.

4. In a lighting fixture, a reflector having an inwardly directed flange, a casing bearing with one end against one face of said flange, a lamp -socket body extending through the bore of the said flange into the interior of the casing and having an annular portion bearing against the opposite face of said flange, and fastening elements operatively connecting the lamp-socket body with the casing and clamping the said flange therebetween, the said casing having recesses for housing the terminal bends of wires leading to the socket.

5. A lighting fixture comprising a reflector having at its neck an inwardly directed flange, a cup-shaped member presenting its mouth in engagement with one face of said flange and having a pair of perforations in its other end, a lamp-socket body having a portion engaging the other face of the said flange and equipped with bores alining with the aforesaid perforations, and fas tening means extending respectively through the said alined bores and perforations for simultaneously uniting the cup-shaped member, reflector and lamp-socket body into a rigid structure.

6. A lightin fixture comprising a substantially cup-s aped and downwardly open casing having an upper aperture through which wires extend, and which casing supports the other elements of the fixture; a substantially cup-shaped socket body having integral therewith a collar underhanging the lower end of the said casing and carrying lamp-engaging conductors connected respectively to the said wires; a downwardly open reflector having on its neck an inwardly directed flange disposed between the collar on the socket body and the lower end of the said casing; and fastening elements connecting the socket body with the casing and clamping the flange on the reflector therebetween.

7 A lighting fixture including a reflector having an inwardly directed flange, a lampsocket body having an'annular portion engaging one face of the said flange and equipped with perforations extending substantially transversely of the said flange, a supporting element equipped with perforations alined respectively with the aforesaid perforations, an annular element spacing the supporting element from the reflector and engaging the opposite face of the said flange, and means connecting the supporting element with the socket body and extending through the said alined perforations and having main portions concealed by the said annular element.

Signed at Chicago, September 14th, 1917.

ARTHUR G. MOWILLIAMS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

